I understand that feeling. If it’s strong enough to drive to using a different base I wouldn’t care much even if it’s more work. The staffing and funding is the real difficult part.

From technical perspective, other than perhaps the software license choice, there’s nothing in AOSP that I’m aware of (not the closed source parts) that’s driven by the oligarchy. I’ve been involved with AOSP at the OEM level for some ten years, some in the early 2010s and then since 2020. AOSP has been fairly well isolated from non-technical decisionmaking at Google, in part due to how many third parties heavily depend on it, and in part because of how pluggable the APIs are. The plugability allowed all anti-features so far to go into installable components that don’t need to be a part of the OS. I think this bullshit with the app “sideloading” changes is the first major change that has no technical basis whatsoever that I’m aware of and requires AOSP surgery to accomodate. There may be more to come from here on out.

I guess you could chalk up the lack of open source app development as part of the oligatchic shitfuckery. I guess it is, but the base apps really are separate from the OS and they’re a pretty small effort compared to the rest of the OS and frameworks.

Anyway. I’ll get this next Jolla phone to try out. Sailfish is an evolution of MeeGo which was the most promising Android alternative in the early 2010s. 😁

Sure but that no longer matters if you have say Igalia staff a 200-people team with EU funding to develop NOSP (Nondroid Open Source Project) a hard fork which no longer accepts any changes from Google. All the decisions happen without Google’s direction. Since that would be already compatible with hardware in the near term, the EU could mandate manufacturers who want to sell in the EU to ship phone variants based on NOSP.

The APIs and OS infrastructure that already exists in AOSP is enormous. I develop system software for AOSP, for a living. It’s been stagnant becauase the OS is basically complete. There’s no major gaps of any kind left. You don’t want the OS to move much unless there’s problems to solve or gaps to fill.

It can run Android apps!

On the software front, our fastest way to independence is a state-funded software org to fork Android and begin development and maintenance full-time. Whether one goes with non-Android or Android OS, it always comes down to funding development. Starting with Android would likely be significantly cheaper since a lot of work has already been done. And if you fund its continued development away from Google, then Google isn’t a factor anymore. Make an independent app store, Play Services replacement, etc. As I said in another thread, the social infrastructure (people, labour) is more important than the exact technology used. If we have that, we can make a usable phone out of Android or Sailfish, or anything else. It’s a matter of doing the work.

Having independent software with PRC-hardware isn’t a bad compromise. Especially in the near term.

Yup. I opted for mininally computerized Whirlpool based on some of his stuff in 2020. Mainly because they’re simple and there’s plenty of parts and repair people who can fix them in Canada.

We really need an Android alternative with no involvement from American or Chinese companies.

This won’t occur without state intervention. The market has already decided to move design and production of phones and phone components to China (and Vietnam to some extent). In order for a European phone to be made, in Europe, the necessary supply chains need to be buit. But there’s no market for them as their output would be more expensive and the market already figured the maximum profit is in the China-Vietnam manufacturing mix. So the state would have to create these supply chains. Minerals, displays, diodes, MOSFETs, ICs, caps, PCBs and small cells. Once that’s in place, creating a European phone manufacturer becomes possible. That’s a decade long process that simpy won’t occur without deliberate and persistent state support. I think it should be done, however you may find a lot of opposition by free market fundamentalists, or interest groups that represent capital in other industries receiving state support.

Geohot has always struck me as a bit of a blowhard.

Or maybe she’s just incompetent. But maybe you’re right.

Interesting. Thanks!

Is there actual science to predict IQ based on genes?

Currently it’s in close proximity to the tip of Big Tech’s … production output pipe.

But the top 20% can still spend. That number is going to drop off a cliff when the stock market tumbles, and the spending with it.

If you look at the history of capitalism you could observe the stage where capitalism does put profits into R&D is temporary. Eventually capitalists reach enough power that lets them generate profts without significant reinvestment and instead spend them on luxury goods. Happened in the late 19th/early 20th century. It’s happening now as well. In-between that there was a massive state intervention that took significant economic power from capitalist class and put it into the state. The period when capitalism worked well for the majority was a deviation from the mean. Relevant.

Pre-ordered. Time to put our money where our mouth is.

Right, cause the US wants to grab it instead and then “invest it.” At this point either the EU takes or the US will.

They knew they could be overlords and were that before The Great Depression too. We are just surpassing the level of wealth inequality that was reached prior to the system collapsing back then. What followed in the 40s and 50s was an abnormal period created by the implementation of a significant number of socialist policies that stemmed the desire for blood by the disposessed masses. These fuckers have been working to dismantle them ever since. If we find a formula that allows for such reforms to stick for longer than several decades, that would be nice. There’s good reason for skepticism though.

Steve still doesn’t quite see that this is the capitalist system working as intended - serving the owner (capitalist) class, but he’s definitely getting radicalized by the current reality of it.

This gesture ✊

It’s still informative. His other stuff is good too.

Good vid but he’s falling a bit for the corporate propaganda that costs determine prices and that consumers have real power over price setting. Most firms maximize prices while minimizing costs. Consumers have especially little market power in a consolidated market like home appliances.